Is anyone else having a hard time using iMovie with Catalina?

You already know about it... And it doesn't matter where the project stored!

Tell me... I bought a new Mac.... quite expensive, BTW.... And..... I need to work! How am I suppose to do it if I cunt edit. It freezes all the time!!!!

I spent hours on the phone with support team... no results.... What to do?

Hi MSFondin,

It seems you're having some trouble with performance on your Mac using iMovie. It's important to get the performance you expect from your Mac. Let's work together to find a fix.

Where are the projects you're editing being stored? Are these running off the internal storage for your Mac or do you have files stored externally?

You can try setting up a user as a test to isolate the issue to iMovie or to your user account:

Set up users, guests, and groups on Mac - Apple Support

Let us know what happens.

Thanks for using the Apple Support Communities.

There is a conflict somewhere. You can either try some diagnostic things to isolate it or take your Mac into the genius bar at your local Apple store and let them worry about it. Your Mac should still be under warranty.

Here are a few easy things that you can try on your own, that often are done to root out conflicts:

Deleting Preferences

Try opening iMovie while holding down the

Option and Command keys and selecting to delete preferences in the box that

appears. iMovie will open in a new library. Reopen your old library to get back

to your projects.

Open in new Library

Open iMovie while holding down the Option key and select to create a new library from the dialogue box that appears. Create a new project in the library and see if you can work with it without the freezing up. If your library is stored on an external drive, the drive should be formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled) or APFS, or your library may not function correctly.

Safe Mode

You could also try booting up in Safe

Mode (see Finder menu for instructions) and, after everything loads,

immediately shut down and reboot in normal mode. Then see if iMovie works

properly.

Resetting the System Management Controller

Try resetting the System Management

Controller:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201295 

Resetting the NVRAM or PRAM

Try resetting the NVRAM or PRAM,

although this issue would be fairly rare:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204063

Redownloading iMovie

If none of the above work, try redownloading iMovie.

To update/redownload iMovie 10, drag your

iMovie 10 app from the Applications folder into the trash, but do not empty the

trash. Sign in to the app store and open your purchases folder by

clicking on your name at the bottom of the app store side bar. You will see

your purchases displayed, including iMovie 10. Redownload/update iMovie from

there. If not successful, drag your present iMovie app out of the trash and return it

to the Applications folder.

If still no luck, then the genius bar would be your next stop.

-- Rich

Its not about Catalina, Its about your new MacBook Pro 2020... Have the same problem. People are complaining all over the world... On my old Mac I could use iMovie on Catalina with no problems... by the new Mac - here is the problem!